Question Period Note: THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR WORKFORCE

What federal investments are being made to support the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Workforce?

• The Government of Canada is committed to working with the provinces and territories to put early childhood educators at the heart of the Canada-wide system.

• Our transformative investment of over $27 billion to build a Canada-wide system is in addition to the $420 million provided to provinces and territories in 2021–2022 to attract and retain early childhood educators.

• Every Canada-wide Agreement includes commitments to increase supports for the early childhood education workforce.

• Many provinces have already announced new supports for the early childhood educators in areas such as hiring, retention, training and wages.

Building on investments announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of over $27 billion over five years, as part of Budget 2021 to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system with provinces and territories. Combined with other investments including in Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care, up to $30 billion over five years will be provided in support of early learning and child care. Adding previous investments announced since 2015, this means that as of 2025-2026, a minimum of $9.2 billion will be provided every year – permanently – for Early Learning and Child Care and Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care.

The goal is to bring fees for regulated child care down to $10-a-day on average within the next five years. By the end of 2022, the Government is aiming to reduce average fees for regulated early learning and child care by 50 per cent to make it more affordable for families. These targets apply everywhere outside of Quebec which already has an affordable, well-established system, and Yukon which has already achieved a $10-a-day system.

To support the implementation of the Canada-wide ELCC system, Budget 2022 has proposed infrastructure funding to enable provinces and territories to make additional child care investments, including the building of new facilities. Budget 2022 proposes to provide $625 million over four years, beginning in 2023-24, for an Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. The new infrastructure funding will also be part of an asymmetrical agreement with Quebec to further enhance its child care system.

Several provinces and territories have announced new programs, grants, or supports for the ECE workforce over the past year using federal workforce and Canada-wide funding. For example:

• Alberta announced in August 2022 $5.2-million in funding to help more than 3,300 educators sharpen their skills through free early childhood brain science and development training. Funding was provided through the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–Alberta ELCC Agreement, which includes a one-time investment of $56 million in 2021-22 to support the early childhood educator workforce.

• British Columbia announced in August 2022 $1.15 million in federal funding through the 2021-25 Canada-British Columbia Early Learning and Child Care Agreement to expand the ECE dual-credit program, which gives more Grade 11 and 12 students opportunities to study and work in early learning and child care.

• Newfoundland and Labrador announced in July 2022 a new Early Childhood Education Needs-Based Incentive Grant, which will provide eligible students in approved programs with non-repayable grants of up to $10,000. The estimated federal investment of $2 million per year is funded through the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

• Manitoba announced in June 2022 nearly $37 million in federal and provincial funding to implement a wage grid that will support wage equity for the early childhood workforce in funded child-care facilities. Under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, $34.7 million in federal funding will be allocated to the existing operating grants through an additional Wage Grid Supplement to support wage equity for early learning and child-care sector staff who care for children under the age of seven.

• New Brunswick committed in March 2022 to increasing the hourly wages of early childhood educators in designated early learning centres and homes.

• Saskatchewan announced in March 2022 a one-time grant to regulated and operational child care centres to assist them in recruiting and retaining qualified early childhood educators. This grant is supported by funding provided through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

• Prince Edward Island announced in February 2022 a new one-time Return to the Early Childhood Education Profession Grant, to help recruit early childhood educators back to the sector. The Grant will provide a one-time $5,000 grant to eligible early childhood educators, who have worked outside the sector for a minimum of two (2) consecutive years. This grant is being funded in part by one-time investments in 2021-22 to support the early childhood educator workforce.

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